This lager is brewed in the French farmhouse style. We add our own twist by adding 30% Rye Malt, locally grown Triticale from MA and amber Belgian candy sugar. We leave this beer slightly hazy to accentuate the mild fruity yeasty character. Copper in color, a spicy Rye flavor emerges in a dry yet malty finish after lagering for five weeks near freezing.

T-Starts off full of lager yeast and light barnyard funk. The middle is predominantly where the fruity sweetness lies. The rye is long and spicy. The flavor finishes with a potent grassy hop bang.

M-Medium bodied. Mild bitterness. Drinks like a smooth lager. The rye adds a pleasurable element to the feel. Soft bubbles.

O/D-Another supremely unique brew by Jack's Abby. I prefer their hoppier offerings but this is a damn good brew.I could turn a bunch of people (even newbies) onto this beer. Will buy again. (744 characters)

M: On the lighter side of medium bodied. Lush and filling in the mouth. Extremely creamy. Small amount of prickling carbonation slightly accentuates the spiciness. Very smooth.

O: An interesting combination of flavors. Not a hard beer to drink, but the rye doesn't quite seem to fit the rest of the flavor profile. In fact, it starts to dominate after a while and wears on the palate just a little bit. (1,153 characters)

The beer pours an ambered copper with a huge yellowing white head of creamy bubbles. The beer’s body is lager clean but with a darker haze, and tiny carbonation bubbles can be seen racing up to replenish the fat head. The beer leaves behind a lovely network of dry sticky lacing, almost like the layers of the earth with tree roots running between them. On the nose, the beer smells of light spicy bread with a touch of saison funk, but with a very clean feel on the nose. The rye malt is the most prominent thing in the nose, and gives some wonderful spicy rye bread notes. On the tongue, the beer tastes clean with a light flavor palate of bitter and salty dry bread with a faint touch of sweetness. The beer begins with muted bread notes that slowly open into spicy rye bread with a nice hit of grassy hops. The finish is strong with the grassy and hay-like hops, while the aftertaste lingers with very muted rye spice. On the mouth, the beer feels medium light in body and leaves the mouth slightly astringent yet wet on the sides of the tongue and dry on the roof of the mouth. Overall, this isn’t a bad beer. I haven’t really had a Bière De Garde , so I don’t know for style how to grade this beer. I can say that it is very muted in flavor compared with other Jack’s Abby beers. It’s tasty, just not as in your face as others. I like this beer, but it didn’t blow me away. (1,394 characters)

I sometimes enjoy a biere de garde when done right, but most of the ones I've had before are meh. However, one of the few breweries I would trust outside of Northern France to do it right is Jack's Abby.

Pours a nice fizzy almost 2 finger head that gets kinda thick and fluffy and fades fairly slowly, nice fluffy lacing too, quite clear slight amber autumn-leaves orange auburn color, quite a few bubbles streaming up from the bottom. As the head fades and collapses it turns to a very thick frothy head.

Nose has some nice farmhouse funk, wheat grass, straw and a bit of wet hay even, plenty of wheat itself, grassy herbal dried straw and a touch of herbal spices, a bit of dried grass, light leafy herbal but mostly grassy hops, which gives way to the spicy rye in the middle, distinct spicy grainy rye aroma, and a little bready yeast with a fruity touch.

Taste starts with the lager qualities, a little fruity lager yeast flavor, light grainy bready yeast taste, etc. Then quickly comes the farmhouse flavors, farmhouse funk, grainy malts, wheat-grass again, dried grass, straw, plenty of wheat flavors again. The grassy malts get juicy even, toasty grainy malt, etc. Rye is there as well, spicy and bready, that even adds a light fruitiness like the lager yeast does. There are light grassy hops too, a little herbal and spicy, just a bit, but mostly grassy again. The mild sweetness blends in well, and continues onto the finish although it dries quite a bit, a nice big rye spicy flavor on the finish, with more farmhouse funk that's much lighter, bit more grassy hops and some grainy grassy malts and straw.

Overall a nice beer, good farmhouse flavors and aromas, a nice rye kick, grassy grainy straw wheat malts, and a light grassy hop character even. Overall a nice beer quite drinkable and tasty, would be much better in late spring, but still a well done beer to be done in U.S. However, if I could complain, maybe a bit too sweet and sticky. (2,031 characters)

Cool color on this one, a hazy light brownish-orange. White head retains as a thick ring and a partial cap with some lace left.

The saison feel really comes through in the scent. Tart, farmy yeast and lager graininess combined with some spicy and lemony notes.

Taste once again brings a nice combo of saison yeast and lager flavor. Light crisp Belgian yeast that is fruity with a bit of tartness to it, grainy and bready malts, a bit buttery. Light fruit, rye, and earthiness there as well but hops are kept on the down low.

Light, crisp mouthfeel with highish carbonation and a full body.

A very interesting beer, not very familiar with this style and this was definitely a cool experience. A little on the simple side, but quite unique and enjoyable, a nice change up for Jack's Abby as well. (850 characters)

aroma is a little light and somewhat musty and metallic ...maybe?color is copper and fairly clear and a little hazy when pouring the rest of the bottle.the taste is a marriage of rye spiciness and light fruit. almost white grapes and melon and pepper and a little caramel sweetness. very little hop presence. It drinks really easy and seems appropriate for the coming springtime. enjoyable (391 characters)

o - Overall a decent biere de garde, though I liked their brett one better. Nose is a nice mix of light sour and funk and fruit, though the taste is less complex. Easy to drink, would give it another shot. (824 characters)

Thanks to jaasen64 for including this as an extra in a recent trade. Always love to try new beers.

Poured from the bottle into a Brewery Vivant tulip.

Smell is slightly funky, slightly sour. Gives the impression that this will have a nice sour bite.

Wow, the taste is just a hot mess. I get very little of the sourness I was initially expecting. Instead, the palate is overwhelmed with a spicy, barnyardy funk that competes with the tinge of sourness in this beer. Also has a weirdly medicinal, off-putting finishing taste. No cohesiveness in the flavors of this beer whatsoever.

Overall, this was a very, very big dissapointment to me. I disagree with all the other reviews, the spiciness of the rye and hops do not play well with slight sourness, and the flavors simply clash. In addition, this brew is a lager, but there is no cleanliness or crispness to this. IMHO, a fruitier ale yeast may have been able to pull the seperate elements of this beer together. In the end, I took about three drinks of this, kept trying to like it, and then drainpoured the rest of the bottle. (1,082 characters)

500ml bottle served in a tulip. July 2012 indicated on the back label. This beer looks beautiful in the glass. Pours a hue that is slightly more orange than cider with a latte-like, creamy-colored half inch head embedded with ringlets and with clusters of raised craters within the froth. Thick, concentric bands of lacing are revealed during the tasting. I love the nose on this beer - tart, light fruity esters (perhaps grapefruit) as well as a suggestion of funk as expressed by some medicinal phenols that are revealed behind the initial citrus character. Taste reveals a sour mash quality, less citrus than anticipated, some more of the medical/funky qualities present in the nose, as well as a some oak notes expressed as a slight butteriness. Not as tart as initially suggested, but there is a slight citric acid quality in the flavor profile and some light, bitterness towards the finish that gradually dissipates between quaffs. Mouthfeel is light in body with a pleasant, even, effervescent carbonation and a slight acidity that light stimulates the sides and back of the tongue. Overall, I have to say that I am really impressed by the beer. There are many subtle nuances here, and as with all of their other brews, the pricepoint for the quality is exceptional. I'd be curious to see what some age does to this beer and hope to pick up a few more bottles to experiment with. Another observation I have to make is that there are definitely some Orval-esque qualities to this beer. (1,491 characters)

As for the taste, I remember saying “wow, I’m really loving this” more than once as I drank it down. A little barnyard sits in the middle of the palate and is surrounded with notes of rye, spicy hops, and just a touch of citrus. It has a little saison character to it.

Mouthfeel was fine. A lighter feel to the body, without tasting light. Carbonation was normal. Extremely drinkable.

In my mind, JA’s batting average is sky high right now. I really loved this one - a low ABV brew with the flavor character of higher ABV Belgians, but with added drinkability that’s off the charts. I will be seeking this out again, and you should too. (932 characters)

Nose is a mix of fresh grain and some typical saison or Belgian farmhouse sort of funk and spicy
hops.

Taste is medium to light bodied and very smooth. Starts off with some very mild Belgian farmhouse funk and then a very firm bitterness that really takes hold almost immediately. There’s actually this fresh malty, almost 6 row malt, type undertone that runs throughout, which is probably more to do with the Lagering. There’s a nice strong Rye flavor that sits almost on top of the Biere de Garde, that sort of tastes like your normal Biere de Garde or Saison, but leans much more towards an American style Rye. The bitterness of the rye though really works well as a compliment to the style, which normally is more of a hoppy leafy sort of flavor. The bitterness isn’t overpowering at all, but it’s definitely very prominent.

Another unique and stylistically complex beer from JA. The rye malt is the perfect complement for the Biere de Garde style. The mild funk and sourness of the Belgian farmhouse style combined with the bite and bitterness of the hops and rye. Seriously, tasting this is one of those “AH HA” moments, like it must have been when someone tasted chocolate and peanut butter for the first time. It just works, and it works really well. It’s like someone made a black and tan using De Ranke XX and Founders Red Rye. It’s such a cool combo. (1,453 characters)